MAXIMISING THE BENEFITS OF AUCKLAND COUNCILS FISH PASSAGE REMEDIATION PROGRAMME THROUGH A REGIONWIDE GLOBAL CONSENT
Stormwater Conference 2024
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C. Brent & D.Yee (Auckland Council Healthy Waters). R.Clark & J.Vince (Beca Ltd)
ABSTRACT
Ko te wai te ora o ngā mea katoa – Water is the sustenance of all things
Auckland Council Healthy Waters (Healthy Waters) is responsible for the health and wellbeing of waterways across the Auckland Region, seeking ways to restore the mauri of the wai, whilst taking a nature-based approach to responding to its obligations.
All councils have a specific requirement to improve fish passage under the National Policy Statement for Freshwater Management (2020), to improve the extent to which existing instream structures provide for fish passage. Further, Healthy Waters has committed, in their stormwater network discharge consent (DIS6006913), to address fish passage barriers across Auckland and mitigate an average of 10 fish passage barriers per year.
Aotearoa - New Zealand is home to more than 50 species of native freshwater fish, of which 70% are threatened or at risk of extinction. Loss of habitat connectivity from instream structures which are not designed to provide fish passage is a contributing factor to this. Healthy Waters has identified some 4,200 fish passage barriers that require remediation to improve native fish passage.
The location of these barriers within and adjacent to streams means the works generally require activities within the stream bed and riparian margin, including activities such as disturbance of the stream bed, new or upgraded instream structures, earthworks and vegetation removal. The location and types of activities involved generally trigger resource consent under the Auckland Unitary Plan: Operative in Part (AUP) and/or the National Environmental Standard for Freshwater (NESF). However, the majority of barriers can be remediated through relatively small-scale works, often only infringing on one or two standards (such structure length or minor vegetation alteration), and are able to be undertaken using best practice methodologies without site specific measures.
Given this, it was recognised that seeking consents for each individual project would result in both delays to project delivery and significant costs which would be better spent on delivering the programme of works. Subsequently, Healthy Waters has sought and obtained a 35 year duration region-wide global consent to undertake the works.
The benefits of a global consent
The region-wide global consent provides for streamworks, vegetation removal and earthworks in most environments across the region subject to specific requirements and processes as set out in the consent conditions. The consent recognises that most of the works required are of a similar scale and any potential environmental effects from the works are largely contained to construction activities that can be managed through established best practice environmental management. Importantly the consent puts in place a process that enables an elevated scrutiny by specialists as the scale of the works increase. This approach enables appropriate measures to be developed and implemented to manage and mitigate effects on the environment, recognising that in some instances specialist input and additional measures may be required.
Establishing the process
A collaborative approach was taken to establishing a process for the consent that was both workable and agreeable to all the project partners – including Healthy Waters, mana whenua, the designers, constructors, ecologists, planners and ultimately Auckland Council Regulatory. This involved an open and transparent dialogue with the partners and included site visits to enable the typical scale of work and types of barriers to be understood.
This approach was fundamental in everyone understanding what Healthy Waters was trying to achieve, and how a region-wide global consent would provide the most efficient means of maximising environmental outcomes, whilst still ensuring appropriate scrutiny and management.
Throughout the process the Project Team worked closely with Auckland Council Regulatory to establish the limits to incorporate into the consent, which, with the identified mitigation and management procedures and mechanisms, meant that any potential effect as a result of the implementation of the consent would be appropriately managed. Overall, the remediation of fish barriers is anticipated to have positive environmental benefits, including significantly increasing both the diversity and volume of fish and other aquatic species in streams across the Auckland region.
Implementing the consent
The consent steps out a process to be followed annually which enables scrutiny and input from Auckland Council’s compliance and mana whenua groups. The starting point is an annual report, which identifies the projects programmed to be undertaken in the following financial year (and generally over the summer months). The projects are prioritised, grouped and ranked depending on their location, type and scale of expected remediation works required. Projects are generally prioritised in line with the criteria outlined in the New Zealand Fish Passage Guidelines 2018 being:
The projects are then evaluated as to whether the proposed works are permitted or trigger a consent. If consent is required, consideration is then given to whether they fall within the parameters set out in the region-wide global consent or whether additional consents are required. This is documented by Healthy Waters, and forms part of the annual report.
Tool-box designs and General Environmental Management
A key premise of the global consent approach is that the majority of works across the programme are small scale, can be remediated through a range of tool box designs, and effects during construction can be managed through best practice practices.
A General Environmental Management Plan (GEMP) has been developed as part of the consent documentation, which sets out current best practice environmental management measures to be implemented during construction activities.
The measures set out in the GEMP are required to be implemented for all projects. Where more extensive works are required, the consent requires specialist input to identify the need for additional site-specific environmental measures.
The process allows the toolbox designs and environmental management measures to be updated without the need to change conditions. This enables the consent to remain current with best practice and environmental management as new research and better understanding of effects are developed. This is particularly important given the 35 year life of the consent.
Establishing the limits – a 3 tiered system
The consent sets out a 3 tiered system which sets limits for each activity (e.g. streamworks, vegetation removal and earthworks) and determines how they are to be mitigated or managed.
Will this approach achieve the outcomes sought?
Now that Healthy Waters have obtained the fish passage regionwide global consent, the question will be whether it delivers the efficiency gains it is intended to provide. This will in part come down to developing efficient processes at the commencement of the consent, the ability for those implementing the consent requirements to understand what is needed, and a good working relationship with both Auckland Council compliance and mana whenua.
At the time of preparing this abstract, Healthy Waters are currently reviewing the projects which are intended to be undertaken for this financial year. An initial evaluation has identified that the majority of works will be either permitted activity or fall within the consent, and most will be able to be undertaken with no or minimal additional information requirements. This is incredibly beneficial for planning and undertaking these projects with more certainty and will undoubtedly lead to efficiencies and reduced costs when delivering the programme.
Programmes of work and global consents – a new way of working?
Given both the scale of infrastructure work and the fiscal environment, there is increasing pressure to innovate, do things differently, and look for efficiencies. Obtaining consents for individual projects can often be time consuming and costly. Therefore, global consents may well be a tool that features more widely for programmes of work where similar activities are being undertaken across multiple locations and/or time periods.
Healthy Waters has more recently changed its delivery approach and is looking at programmes of work to bring efficiency to delivering projects quicker, more consistently and cost effectively. There is also increasing pressure from the community to respond quickly and make environmental improvements to our wai. Given this, Healthy Waters are now considering the opportunities for global consents for other programmes of work that will enable them to deliver better and more efficiently.
This presentation will describe the process undertaken to preparing the application, the activities the consent provides for, and how the consent conditions work in practice. An update on the implementation of the consent will also be provided.